Joining the military after college?

[Rob M]

I am currently a high school junior and definetly want to go to college. I am also thinking of joining the military- national guard or army. I heard that if you get a bachelors degree before joining you enter a higher rank. Does it matter what you degree is in? Like can i get a business degree and still go in as a higher rank or does it have to be a certain type of degree? Thanks

[djack]

uhh, yeah. You get E-4 (specialist) with a 4-yr college degree in anything. Or, you can enlist now, & you'll be a corporal by then, maybe SGT. The advanced grade for education is there for people that already have the education, it's not a reason to wait to join.

What I'd tell you to do is join the national guard. You can do that now as a HS junior & 17yo. You could in theory do basic this summer & AIT (job trng) next summer. That'd put you 5-6 years in the Army by the time you finish your degree. If Rank is all you care about then do that.

It'd be better though if you wait till you're closer to HS graduation, then enlist in the guard on a split option with college first. That means you do basic one summer & AIT the next, you're non-deployable till you finish AIT. The college first option makes you non-deployable the first two years even if you do finish AIT before then. You'll be getting 100% tuition assistance all during that time, so free school.

By the end of that two years, you should be able to contract with ROTC under the SMP program. That'll get you about $1300/mo for your one drill wknd, plus still full tuition assistance, and 800/sem for books. And, you'll be non-deployable till you graduate. When you do graduate, you'll be an officer for four years, and you're free to do that time in the guard, reserve, or active, whichever you want.

Msg me if you want some more information.

[Danni]

It matters not what your degree is in, only that you have a 4 year degree. That degree will bring you in as an E-4 Specialist. But if you are going for a 4 year degree and also interested in the military you would be crazy to not consider ROTC, I would ask of one thing of you. Find the military pay charts and compare the pay of an E-4 with the Pay of an 0-1, and also keep in mind the quality of life of an officer is also much higher then that of the enlisted man. One way to look at it is that an officer thinks of the best way to clean the toilet and the enlisted guy executes and cleans the toilet how ever it was that the officer said to clean it...

[Allan P]

The type of degree doesn't matter. You will get a higher rank but if you have a bachelors degree you can also go to officer school and become an officer so you'll start out as a lieutenant and you'll make a lot more money.

[Darren G]

Why not look into an rotc program where the militaru service of your chice pays for your college degree?? You will have a 6 year obligation once you are done with school!!